1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to cleaning machines and more particularly to industrial parts cleaning machines.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In auto shops, machine shops, factories and other heavily industrialized places of business, there is a need for a cheap, effective way to clean dirt and grime from parts and assemblies of parts. Parts have been traditionally cleaned by immersing them in a bucket of solvent and then scrubbing them with a brush. The problem with the bucket cleaning method is that the first few parts being washed contaminate the solvent with particulate matter, sludge, dirt and oil so that subsequently washed parts never become quite clean.
Furthermore, with the bucket cleaning method the solvent must be renewed frequently so that parts can be cleaned adequately. Since the solvents are typically petroleum based, frequent solvent replacement can be quite expensive, and will become more expensive as petroleum products become increasingly scarce.
There are numerous parts cleaners found in the prior art which include a container filled with a solvent, a tray disposed over the container and draining thereinto, and a means for pumping solvent from the container to a nozzle which empties onto the tray. Dirty parts are washed under the stream of solvent flowing from the nozzle.
The above-described type of parts cleaner suffers from the same problems as the bucket method does, namely, that the solvent becomes contaminated with dirt and sludge in a very short order, and thus never really cleans subsequently washed parts.
To overcome the problem of solvent contamination, various parts cleaners include single or multiple filters to remove contaminants from the solvent. One such parts cleaner is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,438,654 of V. N. Albertson which teaches a fluid reservoir, a work table disposed on top of the reservoir, a nozzle draining onto the work table, and means for pumping solvent through an array of filters from the reservoir to the nozzle.
Another recirculating parts cleaning apparatus is disclosed in Swiss Pat. No. 467,876 of A. Milts which discloses an apparatus including a barrel containing a solvent, a washing trough disposed on top of the barrel having a drain pipe leading to the bottom of the barrel, an intake pipe for drawing solvent from near the center of the barrel, and a pump for pumping solvent through the intake pipe and out a hollowed brush member draining into the washing trough.
A problem with parts cleaners found in the prior art is that they do not adequately allow for the sedimentation of particulate matter from the solvent prior to pumping the solvent to the part being cleaned. Also, the filters used in the prior art parts cleaners frequently become clogged and need to be replaced. Lastly, parts cleaners found in the prior art have seals that can be attacked by caustic elements in the solvents which can cause the seals to degenerate and eventually fail.